1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in building configurations, and more particularly relates to improved vertical wall construction in an arched roof, vertical wall, self supporting metal buildings formed of adjacent seamed together panels.
2. Background and Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to make metal buildings from adjacent formed metal building panels which are arched or curved, assembled side by side and seamed together. See for example, Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,288 (1975) for showing of such building in which the roof panels are completely curved or arched and extend to the foundation. In such buildings the roof panels continue as the side walls of the building and the basic building construction is in the shape of a continuous arch or semi-circle when viewed from the end. A machine for making the metal panels for such building in which the formed panels are corrugated not only on the side edges of the box, but also on the bottom to create the curvature is shown in Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,647 (1974). A method of building the building by adjacent panels which are seamed together is disclosed in Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,430 (1976). A seamer for forming the seams between the adjacent panels of the prior Knudson patents is shown in Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,642 (1975). The prior art represented by the Knudson patents is owned and has been commercialized by MIC Industries, Inc. of Reston, Virginia in its mobile K-Span.RTM. machines.
The Howell U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,986,193 (1961) and 3,150,707 (1964) show arched roof building constructions in FIGS. 18 and 20 with the building in FIG. 20 having an arched roof and vertical side walls with different curvatures between the side walls and the roof. It is believed that no buildings, according to this patent were ever built (because of the extreme difficulty and complexity to build the same).
There is a problem in the art with regard to arched roof metal buildings with straight vertical side walls which is that the side walls may not have enough strength to support a large building under heavy load i.e., wind and/or live loads.
An arched building construction i.e., construction of which walls and roof are completely arched has advantages, but also, a number of limitations. One limitation is the absence of vertical walls which limits the use of vertical space. Often users of metal buildings want vertical walls both for aesthetic purposes and to allow more use of space near the edges of the building. Additionally, known prior art machines had a limitation on the thickness of steel used in forming the metal panels, because of machine limitations. The basic size and strength of such metal buildings is also limited by local wind and live load limitations as established by building codes throughout the nation and the world. As these building code standards become more conservative, a builder is effectively limited to only certain size buildings. The complete arched building must be limited in size in order to prevent overloading such as could occur from extensive wind loads produced by hurricanes. However, when the total roof height is reduced to approximately one-fifth of the total building width, hurricane force winds do not affect the building as much, because of reduced frontal area. Thus, there is a need in the art for a metal building formed of continuous panels which is not completely arched but has straight vertical walls while utilizing the economy of the seamed panel construction of the prior art. Such vertical wall buildings would satisfy a need in the art for space, economy, usefulness and strength.
Another, deficiently in the prior art arched panel forming machines is that they do not produce straight sections and curved sections together on the same panel. Furthermore, straight panels formed seperately and used as vertical wall building panels are weak because they are not crimped. In other words with the existing technology, crimping Just the side walls of the panels cannot be accomplished. But there is a need in the art to provide for a crimping of the side walls of straight panels used as vertical building walls.
There is also need in the art for an improved building method for Joining multiple buildings together and providing column support for the side walls without significant conditional components.